Pallone Blasts Trump Consideration of Seismic Testing in the Atlantic

“President Trump is determined to continue his reckless anti-environment agenda,” said Pallone. “Seismic testing risks injuring and disturbing critically endangered species and threatening the Jersey shore. An environmentally sound coast is critical to New Jersey’s economy and given the Interior Department’s recent actions, it is very possible that seismic testing could lead to oil and gas drilling off our coast – threatening public health, coastal communities, and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Quite simply, no seismic testing should be allowed in the Atlantic; New Jersey communities don’t want it, and the Atlantic should not be subjected to this risk.”

In January 2017, the Obama administration denied six pending geophysical and geological (G&G) permit applications to conduct air gun seismic surveys in the Mid- and South Atlantic Planning Areas of the Atlantic Ocean. This decision followed years of effort by Pallone to prevent seismic testing, including his successful urging of the Obama Administration to reject previous seismic testing applications.

Last October, Pallone led a letter from members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), applauding the agency’s Ocean Noise Strategy Roadmap, which proposed numerous measures to reduce ocean noise, and urging NOAA to take immediate steps to implement the plan, specifically by denying seismic testing permits in the Atlantic

In 2015, Congressman Pallone led a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) raising serious concerns over proposed seismic testing off the coast of New Jersey. The members demanded comprehensive environmental assessments of the proposed seismic testing permits and the impact this testing could have on wildlife in the Atlantic Ocean.

Pallone also asked National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries for a public hearing on proposed seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean that could potentially be used to open the Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas exploration.